NJN News; Monday April 24, 1995

You Coming up on NJN News, we'll show you how the deadly low-dichemical plant explosion has affected lives in that Bergen County community. Some Camden County youngsters are counseled after a deadly standoff and their community leaves too long and dead. The Garden State is poised for a welcomed British invasion following the governor's recent mission.

Earth Day is now 25 years old. Will report on how New Jersey has confronted its environmental challenges. NJN News is next. Major funding for NJN News is provided by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. It's Fidelity Bank, PSENG and Bell Atlantic. This is NJN News with Kent Manahan and Pat Scanlon with Sports. Good evening, investigators are still trying to determine exactly what caused last Friday's explosion that killed four workers at a chemical planted low-dibe. Officials are also assessing the damage to the environment, including the killing of fish in nearby river. As Trish de Gasparis reports, the deadly blast has had an impact on area homes and businesses.

This is what's left of NAP technologies, the chemical plant of which four people were killed and another critically burned. Authorities speculate that the cause of the explosion was the improper mixing of chemicals at the site. Trying to focus in on what actually occurred in the hours immediately, preceding the explosion and what chemicals were in the tub would narrow that down. The explosion damaged many homes and businesses in the surrounding area. Today at City Hall, dozens came to file their claims. Do you have any idea how much damage your business has sustained yet? At least $250,000. What are you going to do with that kind of a loss? I don't know. I have the fight in claim insurance. Joe Cardiello owns the building. He rents out to four different businesses. I have a convenience store in the front, I understand he was with electric for about two days.

All his stuff has probably gone bad. The limousine service in here understands firemen told them that the fragile was pushed in. Other than that, I don't know. The groupers with a state emergency management office were on hand to gather information about economic impact to the area. What we'll do is we'll file this information to look at the governor's office to see if there are any other established avenues of payment. As far as environmental impact, authorities are still trying to gauge that. According to the DEP, hundreds of fish were killed. It's not yet known if there will be long-term effects to the nearby saddle river or the Paseyok river it flows into. According to the DEP, the company had no significant violations when last inspected, although the company was cited for some minor violations in recent years. The biggest problems that authorities in dealing with this incident is that there were a variety of chemicals, but no one knew exactly where they were. The difficulty in dealing with it is you didn't know what was mingling with what in the flames. Everything was involved. It was a total involvement.

I don't know that you're ever going to be able to fully solve that problem, but we're certainly using this as an opportunity to revisit what the laws we now have in place. Meanwhile, services for the four victims will be held this week. Frishti Gaspers, NJN News, Lodi. Wounds are deep and hadn't heights where two lawmen were gunned down during a stand-off last week. Today, some students received counseling at a school frequently visited by one of the officers. Joy Purdy tells us how the town has been affected by the tragedy. Many young people from hadn't heights expressed sorrow after last Thursday's incident. Doesn't happen every day, especially here. I think we'll have like a lot more respect for all the cops in town now. The suspect remains behind bars, charged with the murders of officers John McLaughlin and John Norcross, as well as the attempted murder of John Norcross's brother, Officer Rich Norcross. Today, counselors spent the morning talking to groups of students in all four area schools, helping them deal especially with the death of Officer John Norcross, a familiar face to the students.

And he worked primarily with kindergarten through third grade. And he did a couple of things. His main focus was to let the kids be familiar with the policemen and teach them that the policemen are their friends. A viewing was held today for the 24-year-old Hadden Heights officer. The community will be able to pay its last respects during funeral services tomorrow morning. To honor the Hadden Heights officer, many local businesses plan to close up shop tomorrow. Now, remember looking up at him and thinking, you know, how nice he was, because that helps a lot. And your story is going to be closed tomorrow? Yes. Yes. Parents and students say tomorrow they'll form a human chain along King's Highway to show their support as the funeral procession passes by. Joy, herty, and Jan News, Hadden Heights. Today is the day for New Jersey Departments of Government to notify the State Personnel Commissioner of Layoffs. Governor Whitman's budget calls for laying off 812 workers and eliminating at least 2,400 jobs through attrition and privatization. The administration imposed a job freeze in March in anticipation of the cuts. Today, Michael Aaron asked the governor if she'll be satisfied if the number of cuts comes

in around the 800 number. Have I don't want layoffs? I mean, my object isn't to be known as how many bodies I can put out on the street from State Government. What I want is intelligent, reordering of priorities and downsizing government in a smart fashion that makes sense so we can continue to deliver services. There is no magic number attached to that. Each department is required to establish layoffs schedules in time for the start of the next budget year, which begins July 1st. The governor has announced the three businesses in Great Britain have expressed interest in investing in New Jersey. Whitman was on a trade mission there last week. And as Michael Aaron reports, she wants the public to know she did not come home empty handed. According to Governor Whitman, 70 percent of all new economic growth in the United States will come from foreign trade. That's why she was in Britain last week trying to drum up some business for New Jersey. Back home now, the governor announced today that three of her contacts there are interested

in investing in the state. Center Parks is a nature-based theme park in the forests outside London. Whitman says the firm would like to open a park in the northeastern United States and that she persuaded them to check out five sites in New Jersey next month. They're a very environmentally sensitive, it's operation. It is something that you really have to see, to understand and appreciate how it works. It's very different from anything we have here. The park would require 400 acres and would mean 1,000 jobs. They're talking about making a $150 million investment. So that's a very substantial investment. Medina and Whitman held talks with a firm that's interested in investing in the South Jersey port of Salem. The Mercy Dox Company currently operates in Liverpool and would invest $12 million in Salem, if chosen to be the private operator of the public port there. The governor also announced that Penguin Books has agreed not to move South, but instead to expand its facility in Bergenfield and retrain workers there so that blue collar

workers can rise to white collar ranks. State officials say they haven't tallied yet the cost of the trip, which included a visit with Margaret Thatcher, but they are certain the taxpayers got their money's worth in potential new business. Whitman says she was also heartened to see how much respect New Jersey now gets. Being a state that all too often in the past has been referred to and perhaps not the most complimentary terms, it is good to know and to see that in fact the world is learning that New Jersey is a very good and positive place in which to do business and which to live. Michael Aaron and JN News Trenton. Meanwhile Whitman is still being questioned about a comment she made about a game she calls Jules in the Crown. The governor caused an uproar with remarks to a British newspaper about the game in which she says young African-American men compete to father children out of wedlock. Today the governor said she plans to hold a series of discussions on teen pregnancy in New Jersey's urban centers.

She says the issue must be discussed frankly without fears of being politically incorrect. More heated debate today over the ongoing issue of Governor Whitman's lower income taxes leading to higher property taxes. A Democratic state senator charged that the governor's move to cut New Jersey's income tax will not only raise property taxes, but will also reduce school aid to districts. Rich Young reports on today's Senate Budget Committee hearing in Trenton. New Jersey state income tax brought in $4.7 billion this year, money aimed for property tax relief and school funding. Well, at a Senate Budget Committee hearing today, Senator Bernard Kenney charged that the governor's efforts to further lower the state's income tax will eventually mean fewer dollars for education. They can talk about, oh, we have to cut here and cut there, fine, go ahead and cut. I don't object to that, but don't reduce the revenue stream that's constitutionally dedicated to property taxpayers and to the children of the state. But education commissioner Leo Kleikholz disagreed, he pointed to figures showing that state aid will remain virtually the same next year, even while the governor has moved forward

with income tax cuts. In fact, we looked at it last year. It was said that if because education funding at the state was level, the property taxes would automatically have to go up. And property taxes did go up. They go up every year, but they went up at a smaller rate than they did in the previous two years. Robert Littell, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has asked his fellow Senate Republicans to hold off on further cutting the state's income tax until federal funding figures come through. But for him, Kenney's charge that fewer income tax dollars will mean fewer dollars for education is a tough sell. I don't think that the amount of money that we contribute to education is going to go down at the state level, it'll come out of a different fund, that's all. What effect Littell has in slowing down the governor's income tax cuts is still to be seen, as for the debate over tax cuts and school funding, both Kenney and Klykholz agreed to disagree. Richung and JN News, Trenton. Still ahead tonight on NJN News, tragedy in Gloucester County as two teens are killed by an alleged drunk driver.

And 25 years after the first Earth Day, we'll take a closer look at how New Jersey's environmental movement has changed. A Gloucester County community is in mourning following the deaths of two teens killed by

an alleged drunk driver. It happened over the weekend when the teenagers were returning from their high school prom. Ken St. John has this report. A steady stream of mourners visited a makeshift memorial on Route 55 in Elk Township. The site where 18-year-old Joan Berry and his prom date, 17-year-old Tanya Mokiyenko, were struck and subsequently died Saturday. Meanwhile, students at Delphi Regional High School were still in a state of shock after learning of the death. Sadness arrow in a sense of law showed on their faces. Tanya was real, one of my best friends, and she didn't deserve for this to happen to her at all. We'll put a tragic answer, such a good night, and it's really hard when we look back on our prom, like we're not going to remember the prom, this is all we're going to remember. The teens had attended an alcohol-free gathering at Allettles Catering in Almeness in Gloucester County.

After leaving the prom, the teens were traveling on Route 55 in Elk Township when Joe Berry's borrowed Red Firebird ran out of gas. According to police, Joan Tanya had called for a ride shortly after 2am. They left, changed their prom attire, and returned to the gas in the stranded vehicle. That's when police say they were struck by 22-year-old Donald Hendrick of Clayton. Police also say Hendrick was drinking. The school's principal remembers both teens leaving the prom and his last words to them. Drive carefully, be careful, that's type of things, and go straight home. Principal Barrelli says the students are basically pulling themselves together and supporting one another. Some made ribbons, others could not hold back their grief. Meanwhile, Hendrick's is listed in stable condition at Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Washington Township Division. He has been charged with drunk driving. St. John and JN News, Franklin, Gloucester County. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it took personnel at the Hope Creek Generating Station too long to discover contamination following the release of radiation earlier this month.

The NRC says the incident had little impact on the environment, but officials contended took personnel nearly 14 hours to realize the contamination had spread to the roof of a building and to some cars. No one was injured in the mishap. A multi-state agency claimed it has found 15 types of toxic chemicals and pollutants in the Delaware River. The Delaware River Basin Commission monitors water quality in the river and Delaware Bay and says significant quantities of the pollutants were found in fish and in treated water pumped into the Delaware. The toxic chemicals include arsenic, lead pesticides, and volatile organic compounds. Officials have issued advisory surging people not to eat contaminated fish from sections of the Delaware River south of Trenton. While the battle to fight pollution isn't over, environmentalists are celebrating a milestone this week. Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. In tonight's closer look, Sandy Levine reports on how far the environmental movement has come and what challenges lie ahead. On April 22nd, 1970, the first Earth Day, millions of people rallied in a call to action

to clean up the country's pollution-choked rivers and filthy air. Dairy Bennett, the executive director of the American Literal Society, was there. Remember that 1970 was kind of the 60s still, and these were occasions of like festivals. There was really a lot of young people, and it was a lot of pictures of the Earth from the satellite, save Mother Earth. Bennett says today's environmentalists are as likely to be word processing as protesting, struggling to keep hard-won laws on the books. The most important thing that Congress is doing badly on the Environment is the Clean Water Act. We think they're gutting the act, weakening it. The Endangered Species Act is under attack. We had excessive amount of landfills that were polluting surface and groundwater. We had hazardous waste sites probably more per square mile than any state in the nation. The State Department of Environmental Protection was created on Earth Day 1970.

DEP Commissioner Robert Shin says today the land, air and water are all considerably cleaner. Peregrine Falcons and Eagles are coming back, Shad are spawning in the Delaware, and thousands of acres of open space has been preserved. But environmentalists say while some of the most egregious problems are being cleaned up, tough subtler challenges remain, like keeping stormwater runoff from fouling the waterways and stopping native plant and animal species from disappearing as the state's growing population carves up the land. Does anybody know what this kind of habitat is? Oh, what is it? The wetlands? Yeah. Earth Day's mission of raising environmental consciousness is carried on in 1995 as third graders from Atlantic County visit a wildlife refuge. Indigenous endangered species and pollution prevention are all familiar subjects to today's students, a big change from 1970. 25 years ago I myself knew very little about the environment and its protection, and therefore

we didn't teach our youngsters anything about the environment. What do you think the Earth was like 25 years ago? I already got into it. People didn't recycle. I've been finding droppings all over. I didn't know too much about wildlife. The air was polluted, the emotions were polluted, they were trash in the water. A quarter of a century later, DEP officials say there's been a shift in philosophy. So-called green planning goes beyond regulating and finding industry, it seeks to win its cooperation. We started a new concept about a year ago and it involves a Netherlands process, which is a little bit away from command and control and more into consensus building. It is a way to make the economy and the environment in New Jersey not only compatible but sustainable. We don't want to stick our children and grandchildren with the kinds of problems that were around at Earth Day 1970.

Is it important to protect the environment? Yes. Why? Because if you believe that you could kill lots of animals, because we have the future ahead of us. Sandy Levine, NJN News. Still to come tonight on NJN News and our Business Report, Chrysler's Board puts the brakes on a multi-billion dollar takeover offer. And which airline has flown to the top for service and quality and new survey reveals. I'll tell you, stay tuned. Hello, hello. Check, check, check. Yeah, who's this? Gabriel Haare. It's a wonderful thing. I can serve me in McKee to come serve the Internet tonight.

You got to install that demo on your hard disk then first. It's a freebie. Tonight's Business News, according to a just-release survey, the airline industry rebounded it financially last year, but the quality of service provided by America's nine airlines declined. The annual study put American Airlines is number one in quality, Continental, though, ranked last.

Overall, the researchers examined quality control factors like on-time performance, accidents, customer service, loss baggage, and fleet age. Continental was also listed among the carriers most likely to bump travelers. This lane prices have gone up over the last two weeks to more than $1.22 a gallon. Rising crude prices and stronger pumped demand are blamed. U.S. health care, one of America's biggest HMOs operating in New Jersey and 10 other states, is reporting an increase in earnings up 18 percent in the first quarter of the year. It claims more than 2 million members. Three months after making its first public stock offering, Nabisco was reporting first quarter earnings are up 92 percent to 48 million. The Persephone-based company credits higher sales with snackwell crackers and cookies as big sellers. Chrysler's board has formally rejected Las Vegas investor Kirk Rcouryans' $23 billion buyout bid, saying it's not in the best interests of shareholders. And that's a look at tonight's Business News. Still to come on NJN News, a check of our weather forecast and paths here now with a look

at what's coming up in sports, Pat? OK, we're going to take a look at what's left on Giants GM George Young's shopping list. And the net season mercifully comes to a close details next in sports. So you're still commiserating over the jets taking a Kyle Brady? In a year when Hampton, they can't sign Hampton as a free agent, it'll look like a brilliant

move. Yeah. Time now for sports with Pat. Welcome back from your vacation. Thank you. Well-wrested. Yes. Good. Now you ready to do sports? Yeah, I'm going to try to remember how to do this. Yeah, the stock little NFL draft to begin with, the NFL draft might be over, but teams are now stocking up on free agents, that is, college players who are not selected in the seven rounds. Giants GM, George Young was busy, addressing needs in the draft and acquiring safety ventsy Glenn from Minnesota. Young is now shopping for wide receivers and interior defensive lineman on the free agent market. Right now we're trying to get a little more competition in the wide receiver spot. Our defensive line situation has kind of resolved itself. Offensive line looks like it's in pretty good shape. And I would say the wide receivers is now a position we'd like to get a little more

competition in because we didn't take any wide receivers because of the way the draft was composed. But we took, you know, we had to take a linebacker. We took a possible past roster in situations and things like that. We got it. We took big people whenever we could. Young also said Tyrone Wheatley is a franchise player they had to take. Our record players will be getting a shot in the NFL defensive end, Keith Bryant was drafted by Seattle. Three other players will go the free agent route, including Tackle Ken Damon, who signed with Washington today. Keith Bryant was the only scull at night who was drafted as former Miami Hurricane coach Dennis Erichan took a shot at him. Bryant has an NFL body but never did dominate. He's a player who might have been better off red-shirting as a freshman, Hill mature now in the NFL. Elizabeth's Alciti's Katana will head to New England to play for Bill Parcells. The one-time tight end had his best moments after moving the linebacker. That's where Parcells will play Katano. And Rutgers' most explosive defensive player, Bob Sneathen, signed with the Philadelphia

Eagles. Sneathen from East Violin, New Jersey was the night's best pass-rusher and the most spirited in leading the R.U. defense from that defensive end spot he played in. Well, there's no tomorrow for the Nets in 76ers. Both teams finished their NBA seasons yesterday, missing the playoffs and now looking forward to the NBA draft. The Nets beat Boston on this last second bit of heroics by Chris Morris, whose three-point play beat the Celtics 102-99. Morris, one of the many Nets who probably won't be back next year after Butchbeard won just 30 games in his first frustrating season as head coach of the Nets. We know we have to make some changes. They're going to be some changes made simply because of the expansion draft. But other than that, we're all going to have to set down and come up with a plan to get us back on the positive track. The Nets owners met today. Team officials say, GM Willis, Reed and Coach Butchbeard are still in those positions. In other news, Lenny Wilkins will coach the next USA Dream Team in the Olympics in Atlanta.

Dowell Strawberry got three years probation, six months house confinement, and must pay $350 grand for tax evasion. Strawberry did avoid prison time. Former Willing Brown native, Carl Lewis will run in the New York games at Columbia on May 21st. The 33-year-old Lewis is competed in the event since its inception in 1989. It's sports. Still going strong in his 30s. Thank you, Pat. Good to know. Yeah. We're taking a look at weather. A mixed bag today is we did see some sunshine as well as clouds and drizzle across much of the region. Eyes were mainly in the mid-50s around the state. And the cherry blossoms are in full bloom in New York's Branch Brook Park. The more than 2,700 trees are a magnificent sight to see, and the blossom should last through the weekend. Here's a look at our forecast in North Jersey tonight, partly cloudy with a chance of some rain lows in the mid-30s. Tomorrow, a mix of sunshine and clouds with highs in the lower 60s. Our extended outlook, a chance of rain, Thursday and Friday with temperatures slowly rising. In South Jersey for tonight, partly cloudy skies with a low of 35.

Tomorrow, a very nice day, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-60s. And the extended forecast for the southern part of New Jersey, a chance of showers toward the end of the week. Highs will be in the 60s. And that's our news for tonight. I'm Ken Manahan for Pat and all of us here at NJN News. Thank you for being with us. We'll be back again tomorrow. See you then.